What you’re about to read is real.
The names have been removed to protect… well, mostly myself. But trust me—this happened.
It all started, as these things often do, with a simple statement.
“I work 7 days a week. Home when I can / need to be. That’s the work-life balance. Hard with 3 kids, but I’ll never work for someone again!”
Ah yes. The anthem of the modern entrepreneur.
Sung proudly by those who have slain the Corporate Overlords™ and now roam the wild plains of the internet, their pockets full of freedom, their hearts full of—
Wait.
The internet, sensing blood, closes in.
“Are you making so much that the tradeoff is worth it?”
Fair question. The kind that should, you know, make a person think for a moment.
“Meh, I’m not happy. Let’s put it that way.”
**SKKKRRRTT—**Hold up. What?!
The internet blinks.
Someone—perhaps hoping they just misunderstood—tries again.
“Then why not get a job and slack off and have a better balance?”
(You know, like a person who believes in wild concepts like weekends and basic happiness.)
But then, he replies.
“Cause F that. Never going to have someone above me and tell me when, how, where, why I can do something, and how long it will take. I’ll take the non-happiness any day.”
HMMMMMMMM.
Now.
I, too, would rather chain myself to a laptop than have someone cc me on “just checking in” emails or tell me to show more “team spirit.”
But surely there is a way to be happier while I’m chained to my laptop?
At this point, one of the sceptical bystanders finally steps forward—the self-appointed therapist of the Productivity Intervention Team.
“Sounds like you are not mentally well.”
Oh.
Oh no.
And then, with the precision of a seasoned professional, the breakdown begins.
“You’re choosing to sacrifice invaluable time with your loved ones while being unhappy, all because you can’t stand to have someone else tell you what to do within the context of a job’s role. And your business isn’t even successful to a point where you feel good about the pay you are taking home or able to properly delegate tasks to free up your time. You seem to want freedom, but you have none. You are overworking yourself and a slave to your crappy business. What are you doing?”
Ladies and gentlemen, this is what we call a verbal annihilation.
The crowd goes wild.
Will he acknowledge his self-inflicted suffering?
Will he reconsider?
Will we get character development?
“You got all that from 4 sentences?”
Okay… He’s deflecting?
But wait—he’s about to tell us why it’s all worth it. Here it comes.
“I make lots of money. Thought that would make me happy, but it doesn’t.”
…
The internet pauses.
A moment of stunned silence.
Then—out of nowhere—a hater enters the chat.
“I’m sorry for your future ex and kids.”
Oh. Oh, we’re fighting now.
“Worry about your future ex and kids. 😂,” our protagonist snaps back.
But Mr Hater has come prepared—he decides that now is the perfect time to flex on everyone.
“I’ve already dumped my ex. My beautiful girlfriend lives with me. My kids are great. My 15-year-old son is sitting next to me playing Halo and watching Netflix. My other son is in his room watching YouTube. My older kids are married, and I’m expecting my first grandchild. I’ve already made more than enough this month and have a bunch more lined up next week, with one of my sons running a new store build. So he’s making money, and so am I. I’m probably taking the last week of this month off to relax, maybe head to Cali to see my grandson when he’s born any day now. That’s what work-life balance is.”
Yes, we are now in the Flex Olympics.
This man just body-slammed the entire discussion into the ground with a paragraph so detailed I’m 90% sure he copied it from his About Me page.
How does our protagonist respond?
What argument does he deliver in defence of his never-ending work cycle?
“I’m taking a poo as we speak, and my beautiful American Bully is laying next to me while my wife is putting my kids to sleep upstairs. Now it’s time for daddy to sloth. That’s life.”
…
And there it is. The final word.
You see, we thought this was a debate about hustle culture versus work-life balance.
But in the end…
It was about a man, sitting on the toilet, vibing with his dog.
P.S.
If you or a loved one has been affected by any of the issues mentioned in this email, please know that help is available.
Yosi is a doctor-turned-psychology-based productivity strategist, which means she knows a thing or two about helping online business owners escape the trap of grinding endlessly while defending a lifestyle that doesn’t even make them happy.
For more info: www.yosianderson.com/
Tp. Tp.
There’s more where that came from!
See, I’ve been writing daily productivity emails for online business owners since November 2024.
And what you just read is barely a scratch on the surface.
The real gems… The fun, insightful, and occasionally absurd behind-the-scenes stories… My best offers… The kind of stuff that makes you go:
“Wait… did that REALLY happen?”
I don’t blast those out to the whole internet.
(Some things… should be kept private.)
But if you want to snoop around… if you want to see what really happens in AYAPYLand…
There’s a door.
And it’s open.
For now.